Newsweek

By: Linley Sanders

Marion Burgess’ has lived her 10 months of life in limbo. She was born last year on Valentine’s Day in Portland, Oregon, with a 6-by-7-millimeter hole in her heart. It will either heal itself, or she will need open heart surgery—only time will tell. Her family’s hope for funding medical care hinges on a decision Congress is running out of time to make: How to fund the program that has given Marion and more than 9 million low-income children the health care needed to survive childhood. Congress has yet to allocate long-term funding for a bipartisan program called the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which covers check-ups, x-rays, medicine and emergency services for children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford other health care coverage.

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The uncertainty has led state-level offices to issue warnings to families reliant on CHIP about the funding shortfall. Most states are required to send notices informing families that their child’s health care coverage could lapse at least 30 days before shutting down service, according to Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown’s CHIP policy research center, the Center for Children and Families. Alker fears families will hear Congress is not renewing the program’s funds and sign up for very expensive private insurance or be forced to go without insurance indefinitely, decreasing the number of kids covered for emergency and preventative care in the U.S.

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